Dual firing trigger and gun aiming mechanism



Nov. 28, 1961 c w, MUSSER ETAL 3,010,369

DUAL FIRING TRIGGER AND GUN AIMING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 22, 1960 s Sheets-Sheet '1 4 37 so 63 l7 W k n J 1 l\\ K A W. M

y g 4s INVENTOR. G WALTON MUSSER BY ALBERT BENDITT 447022.104; a -WW1 9x3.

ATTORNEYS:

Nov. 28, 1961 c w. MUSSER ETAL 3,010,369

DUAL FIRING TRIGGER AND GUN AIMING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 22, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l9 FIG. 2 g I A TORNEYS:

Nov. 28, 1961 c w. MUSSER ETAL 3,010,369

DUAL FIRING TRIGGER AND GUN AIMING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 4.

FIG. 5;

I JNVENTOR. C WALTON MUSSER By ALBERT BENDlTT 1 man afiw V J (PM ATTORNEYS:

3,010,369 DUAL FIRING TRIGGER AND GUN AIMING MECHANISM C Walton Musser, Beverly, Mass, and Albert Benditt, Philadelphia, Pa., assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed Jan. 22, 1960, Ser. No. 4,159 Claims. (Cl. 89--27) (Granted under Title 35, U.S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a dual firing trigger and gun aiming mechanism which greatly simplifies the operation of aiming and firing a major and a minor gun.

In the aiming and firing of such guns it has been customary (l) to utilize a handwheel for elevating the guns at a relatively high speed until they are approximately on the target, (2) to provide a vernier knob at the center of the handwheel for low speed adjustments, and (3) to fire the guns by means of triggers which are more or less remote from the handwheel. This operation is complicated by the requirement that the gunner also must, at the same time, operate the gun traversing mechanism and keep his eye on the target. In accordance with the present invention, these various operations are simplified and rendered more accurate by the provision of a speed selector and a gun firing selector both of which are mounted on a single rotatable member.

The invention will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings and its scope is indicated by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the gun elevating mechanism taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1,

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate details of a part of the trigger mechanism which is mounted on the operating member of the gun aiming mechanism, FIG. 3 being a section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 being a section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a section taken on the line 55 of FIG. 2 illustrating a part of the trigger mechanism which is associated with the shaft of the gun aiming mechanism, and

FIG. 6 is a section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 2 illustrating a part of the trigger mechanism which is mounted on the sleeve of the gun barrel.

FIG. 1 illustrates a tripod 10 upon which are supported a major weapon 11 and a minor weapon 12. Interposed between the tripod 10 and the gun 11 are a cant correcting mechanism 13, a gun traversing mechanism 14, and a gun elevation mechanism 15 which is operated by means of a rotatable control member 16 having a gun firing selector 17 and a speed selector 13.

As indicated by FIG. 2, the elevating mechanism 15 includes a gun cradle 19 which is fixed to a rotatable support 20. On the inner periphery of the support 20 is a ring gear 21. Another ring gear 22 is located on the inner periphery of a fixed member or cover 23.

The ring gears 21 and 22 are arranged to mesh with a pair of planetary gears 24 and 25 which are mounted on a carrier 26. A sun gear 27 is fixed to a key 28 which is slidable in an axial groove of a spindle 29, being rotatable about a shaft 30.

The upper part of the planetary gear support 26 is provided with a female gear 31 arranged to mesh with the sun gear 27 when this gear is moved out of mesh 3,610,369 Patented Nov. 28, 1961 with the planetary gear 25 into its uppermost position, this movement of the key 28 and the sun gear 27 being effected by coupling means shown as a lever 32 which is pivoted to the rotatable member 16 at 33 and is controlled by a spring biased knob 34. Surrounding the spindle 29 above the gear 31 is a ring 35. It will be noted that the spindle 29 is slotted to allow movement of a lever 36 for a purpose hereinafter described.

With this arrangement, the drive of the support 20 is from the control member 16 and the sun gear 27 either through planetary gears 24 and 25 and ring gears 21 and 22 or through female gear 31. This group of gears is hereinafter called a gear shift or speed changing mechanism.

With the lever 32 in the illustrated position to which it is biased by a spring 37', the sun gear 27 is in mesh with the planetary gear 25 and the rotatable member 16 functions through the lever 32, the key 28, sun gear 27, planetary gear 25, ring gear 22, planetary gear 24, ring gear 21 and support 20 to rotate the gun mount 19 at a relatively slow speed.

By pressing the knob 34, the sun gear 27 is brought into mesh with the female gear 31 of the planetary gear carrier 26. Rotation of the member 16 under these conditions effects a relatively high rotational speed of the gun cradle 19.

The trigger mechanism 17, mounted at the other end of the rotatable member 16, functions through means including a rod 37, the lever 36, the shaft '30, a member 38 (see FIG. 5) and cams 39 and 40 (see FIG. 6) to fire either the spotter 12 or the major gun 11.

The member 38 has a circular end arranged to rotate in a transfer box 41 and is provided with a tang 42. \At its other end, it is bifurcated to fit into a slot 43 (see FIGS. 2 and 5) on the shaft 30. The t-ang 42 fits into a groove in the end of the shaft to which the cam 39 is attached. Fixed to the cam 40 is the firing cable 44 of the spotting rifle 11 and fixed to the cam 39 is the firing cable 45 of the major weapon 11.

With this arrangement of the various parts, a downward movement of the rod 37 functions through the lever 36 to raise the shaft 30. This rotates the tang 42 in a clockwise direction thereby moving the camv 39 against the cam 40 and applying to the cable 44 a tensile force by which the spotter 12 is fired. An upward movement of the rod 37 functions through the lever 36 and the shaft 30 to rotate the tang 42 in a counter-clockwise direction thereby applying to the cable 45 a tensile force whereby the major weapon 11 is fired.

How these oppositely directed motions of the rod 37 are produced will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 which illustrate the various details of the trigger mechanism.

This mechanism includes a member 46 which is pivoted at 47, is bifurcated at its opposite end to receive a drive pin 48 fixed to a sleeve 50, and is biased to its illustrated position by a spring 49. The sleeve 50 has at its outer end a groove 52 (see FIG. 4) which is arranged to cooperate with a motion selecting pin 51 extending through the rod 37. When the pin 51 is aligned with the slot 52 as illustrated, endwise movement of the sleeve 50 is ineffective to move the rod 37. When the shaft 37 is rotated, as hereinafter described, the motion selecting pin 51 is out of alinement with the groove 52 so that the sleeve 50 is coupled to the rod 37.

cooperatively associated with the member 46 is a member 53 which is pivoted at 54 and is bifurcated at its opposite end to receive a drive pin 55 which is fixed to a sleeve 56. The sleeve 56 has a groove 57 adapted to cooperate with a motion selecting pin 58 fixed to the rod 37. With the various parts in their illustrated positious, the motion selecting pin 58 is out of alignment with the slot 57 and pulling of the trigger 46 rotates the member 53 counter-clockwise and extends the rod 37 in a direction to fire the minor weapon as previously explained. 1

For rotating the motion selecting pin 58 into alignment with the slot 57 in the sleeve 56, arotating sleeve 59 keyed to the rod 37 is provided; Between the rod 37 and the sleeve 59 is interposed a resilient coupling such as spring 63. This rotating sleeve 59 has a tang 60 engaging a slot in a member 61 which is biased outwardly by a spring 62. By pressing the member 61 to compress the spring '62, the sleeve is rotated to a point where the pin 58 is in alignment with the slot 57 and the motion selecting pin 51 is out of alignment with the groove 52. Under these conditions, pulling of the trigger 46 retracts the rod 37 and moves the shaft 30 in a manner to fire the major gun as previously explained.

When the gun aiming mechanism is operated With the button 34 depressed (see FIG. 2), the elevation of the gun is changed at the rate of 15 mils per revolution; With the button 34 released the mechanism is operated, either from the knob 18 or from the trigger 17, to change the elevation of the gun at the rate of 3 mils per rotation. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the combination at one point of the slow speed and gun firing controls is of great advantage in the-tracking of moving targets..

We claim:

1. In a system for aiming and firing a major and a minor weapon, the combination therewith of a rotatable gun positioning support, a fixed cover, a control member rotatable on said cover, a speed changing mechanism coupled to said support, means arranged on said control member to operate said speed changing mechanism, a shaft concentric with said support and said speed changing mechanism and arranged for axial movement with respect thereto, a trigger mechanism including means operable by said movement to fire said gunsselectively, and means carried by said control member for efiecting said movement.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said movement effecting means include a rod, a pair of sleeves each having a longitudinal slot and a drive pin, each of said motion selecting pins being movable in a different one of said slots in a different rotational position of said rod,

means keyed to said rod and rotatable to move said rod to said different rotational positions, a resilient coupling between said rod and said rod rotating means, and means for simultaneously applying oppositely directed forces to said drive pins.

3. A system according to claim 2 wherein "said rod rotat-.

support and the other of which sets meshes with the ring gear of said cover, a female gear on the inner periphery.

of said carrier, a sun gear, and means coupling said sun gear to said control member whereby said sun. gear may be moved into mesh Withsaid female gear or into mesh with the set of planetary gears in mesh with the ring gear of said cover.

5. A system accordingto claim 4 wherein said sun gear is connected tovsaidcoupling means through akey movable in an axial groove of a spindle concentric with said 7 carrier. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Sheldrick et al Aug. 14, 1945 2,775,143 Herl-ach Dec. 25, 1956 2,805,603 Musser Sept. 10, 1957 Musser July 21, 1959 

